How Video Games Are Making More Thoughtful People

It's an interesting thing to hear somebody talk about the idealistic differences between the Empire and the Stormcloaks in the real world. Sure, in the fantastical world of Skyrim these debates are common place, and the way these differences could be resolved could spell huge change in the world of Tamriel. But we don't live in Tamriel, why should we care what happens there? No game can escape being tied, in some way, to the real world. There are fantastical creatures in Skyrim, but isn't it true we find ideas in that world that are familiar enough that we can agree with them, detest them, and everywhere in between? I have talked before about how a "virtual" world can express ridiculously deep emotions, and allow us to care for it. Well, along with emotions, we can also derive very real ideas from these worlds. People contest Empire vs. Stormcloaks probably because they actually agree with the deeper ideologies these groups stand for. I've certainly grown connected to some of the messages these groups spread and I'm happy to say I've debated which is better many times over. The worlds we explore are important. What we get from those worlds is even more so.

There's no way to know objectively which ideologies in this world are better than others. We cannot know, when we set out to solve a problem, which solution will absolutely give the best results. Perhaps the closest we can get is to be able to think about these things and come up with the decision we have decided seems the most right. When we play a game, we get a self-guided tour through worlds with people and ideas that parallel our own. Sure you have tons of fun playing Skyrim, or Deus Ex, or Bioshock, or Mass Effect, but you also get an amazing added benefit; the opportunity to think about the worlds around you and come out of the experience with a different perspective than you had going in.

The concept of "gamification" has been growing in popularity recently. It is the idea that the concepts we use in gaming can be applied in such a way that it helps the world around us as well as the world we explore in the games. There are many ideas of how gamification can be instituted, but I think the most powerful way is already in effect, and growing more and more in the games industry; simply allowing games to let us think. To let us explore and wonder about those worlds we venture though, and, by proxy, our own world. Choice games like Mass Effect and Deus Ex do not simply resonate with gamers because you can change the world in them, but because the choices themselves are powerful things. Because you weigh actual ideas, consider real ways of thinking, and weigh substantive ideologies. Yes the world is virtual, but in a way that virtual-ness only allows our choices to be more important, because we can sometimes have much greater effect there than in the real world. It's a damn exciting thing if you ask me, and above it all is the idea that all these gamers nowadays are weighing options, caring about people, and considering different points of view. They are becoming more thoughtful and making huge decisions that better the worlds they experience them in. When we become more thoughtful in games, we become more thoughtful in the real world. When we weigh ideas in games, they are no less significant in the real world. And when we become able to change the world in a game, there is no reason to say we aren't able to do so outside of one either.